Allison Crowe's Tidings in Corner Brook December 18, 2009

Expect joy, thrills and plenty of holiday cheer, laced with overtones of Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, The Beatles, jazz and more, when Allison Crowe wraps up her "Tidings" tour at home on the east coast - inside Corner Brook's First United Church.

"Music for the season and all time." Tidings stirs together traditional Christmas carols and holiday favourites with an organic blend of rock, jazz, folk, gospel and soul. "The Yuletide find of the year," says The Record. "Be prepared to be amazed," chimes ChristmasReviews.com

“Allison is a force to be reckoned with in Corner Brook and Newfoundland," says Jeffrey Pitcher, Artistic Director of Theatre Newfoundland & Labrador. "The fact that she chooses to live here is nothing short of astonishing and I believe it's because her talent and drive transcends all borders. She sings and her voice tells me I'm not in Newfoundland - I'm in Allison's heart. No matter where she is in this world, that voice, that conviction, it crosses all borders. She's one of those rare artists that fits into any culture, any community because she is who she is - an incredible talent.”

"Allison Crowe has a voice to fall in love with. She is," notes says UK music industry journal Record of the Day, "descended from Scottish, Irish and Manx stock. She's exactly the sort of artist who can make serious headway on her own label and that's just what she's doing."

When this phenomenon 'from the islands' (Vancouver Island and Newfoundland) reached the mainland she steered a path clear of what Joni Mitchell knowingly calls the record business' "style inventions". With Ani DiFranco as a model of integrity, and Creative Commons licensing changing the "game" for resourceful musicians, Crowe created her own label. Since 2003, Rubenesque Records Ltd has released six critically and commercially successful albums: Lisa’s Song + 6 Songs; Secrets; Tidings; Live at Wood Hall; This Little Bird; and Little Light. Crowe's next album is Spiral.

"The first thing you notice about Allison Crowe is her voice. Rich and dark, it seems to come from a place most singers can only dream of accessing. Then there are the songs. Filled with raw passion and accompanied by Crowe's eloquent piano playing," writes Clodagh O'Connell (The Courier). Hers is a joyous sound: "Elton John meets Edith Piaf." A sensation at the UK's John Lennon Northern Lights Festival, where she performed on a bill with the Queen's Master of Music, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, and the UK's Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, "Canadian angel Alison Crowe gave one of the weekend's most magical moments," says The Scotsman. Festival Director Mike Merritt describes Crowe as "awesome" and "spine-tingling", noting her performance "put hairs on the back of your neck! She brought the house down."

A true grassroots success, Crowe is praised not only as a singularly talented songwriter - on themes personal as well as worldly - and as an exciting, visceral, performer, but, also, as a supreme interpreter of song. Her vital takes on such 21st century standards as Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" and Joni Mitchell's "River" are applauded as "truly transcendent" and her singular covers have achieved broad, even mainstream, popularity, featured by BBC Radio, MOJO magazine and by acclaimed Hollywood director Zack Snyder (300, The Watchmen).

Longtime NPR broadcaster Ross Hocker calls Allison Crowe's show, "The most honest, heartfelt, and directly intimate concert in my entire life."

Date/Time: Friday, December 18, 2009 Doors: 7:30 p.m. Music: 8:00 p.m.

Venue: First United Church, 19 Park Street

Tickets: $20 General/$15 Students & Seniors - Advance (all charges incl.)
(Door: $22/$17)

Tickets @: Brewed Awakening (35 West St.), Village Music (30 Main St.), Sharpe Music (44 Maple Valley Rd. - in the Corner Brook Plaza), & First United Church (19 Park St.); online @ http://www.allisoncrowe.com/shoptickets.html

Info: http://www.allisoncrowe.com + http://www.firstunitedcornerbrook.com

Official Website: http://www.allisoncrowe.com